ScienceDaily: Top Science News

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• New carnivorous dinosaur from Madagascar raises more questions than it answers
• Superstorm Sandy shook the U. S., literally
• New understanding of rare white shark movement around Hawai'i
• Nanoparticles found in everyday items can inhibit fat storage: Gold nanoparticles accelerate aging
• Risk factor for depression can be 'contagious'
• Three super-Earth-size planets found in 'habitable zone'
• Ethnicity may influence antibody genes: Immunity-related DNA sections could vary depending on ethnicity
• New solar-cell coating could enable a major boost in efficiency
• Sea-ice ecosystem possibly triggered evolution of baleen whales and penguins
• Learning disabilities affect up to 10 percent of children
• Neural activity in bats measured in-flight
• When it comes to survival of the fittest, stress is a good thing, squirrel study shows
• Rats' and bats' brains work differently on the move
• Distant blazar is a high-energy astrophysics puzzle
• Bursts of brain activity may protect against Alzheimer's disease
• Evolving genes lead to evolving genes: Selection in European populations of genes regulated by FOXP2
• Learned helplessness in flies and the roots of depression
• Toxic protein made in unusual way may explain brain disorder
• Dinosaur egg study supports evolutionary link between birds and dinosaurs: How Troodon likely hatched its young
• Robot hands gain a gentler touch: Tactile sensing technology builds on tiny barometer chips
• Increased brain activity predicts future onset of substance use
• From mice to humans, comfort is being carried by mom
• Teens' brains are more sensitive to rewarding feedback from peers

New carnivorous dinosaur from Madagascar raises more questions than it answers Posted: 18 Apr 2013 06:40 PM PDT The first new dinosaur named from Madagascar in nearly a decade, Dahalokely tokana was a carnivore measuring 9-14 feet long. Its fossils were found in 90-million-year-old rocks of northernmost Madagascar, from the time when Madagascar and India were a single isolated land mass. Dahalokely is potentially ancestral to later dinosaurs of both regions, and shortens a 95-million-year gap in Madagascar's dinosaur fossil record by 20 million years.

Superstorm Sandy shook the U. S., literally Posted: 18 Apr 2013 06:39 PM PDT When superstorm Sandy turned and took aim at New York City and Long Island last October, ocean waves hitting each other and the shore rattled the seafloor and much of the United States – shaking detected by seismometers across the country, researchers found.

New understanding of rare white shark movement around Hawai'i Posted: 18 Apr 2013 01:23 PM PDT A new study sheds light on the relatively rare but occasionally recorded presence of white sharks in waters surrounding the Hawaiian Islands, and suggests a new method to help distinguish between white sharks and close relatives, such as mako sharks.

Nanoparticles found in everyday items can inhibit fat storage: Gold nanoparticles accelerate aging Posted: 18 Apr 2013 01:21 PM PDT An increase in gold nanoparticles can accelerate aging and wrinkling, slow wound healing and cause the onset of diabetes.

Risk factor for depression can be 'contagious' Posted: 18 Apr 2013 12:44 PM PDT A new study with college roommates shows that a particular style of thinking that makes people vulnerable to depression can actually "rub off" on others, increasing their symptoms of depression six months later.

Three super-Earth-size planets found in 'habitable zone' Posted: 18 Apr 2013 11:29 AM PDT NASA's Kepler mission has discovered two new planetary systems that include three super-Earth-size planets in the "habitable zone," the range of distance from a star where the surface temperature of an orbiting planet might be suitable for liquid water. The Kepler-62 system has five planets; 62b, 62c, 62d, 62e and 62f. The Kepler-69 system has two planets; 69b and 69c. Kepler-62e, 62f and 69c are the super-Earth-sized planets.

Ethnicity may influence antibody genes: Immunity-related DNA sections could vary depending on ethnicity Posted: 18 Apr 2013 11:23 AM PDT Cracking the DNA code for a complex region of the human genome has helped scientists chart new territory in immunity research. They have discovered that a good number of our antibody genes and, potentially, what they fight off actually vary from person to person. After completely sequencing the immensely repetitive DNA in the human genome's immunoglobulin heavy-chain locus, they have also found ethnicity may influence immunity.

New solar-cell coating could enable a major boost in efficiency Posted: 18 Apr 2013 11:23 AM PDT Throughout decades of research on solar cells, one formula has been considered an absolute limit to the efficiency of such devices in converting sunlight into electricity: Called the Shockley-Queisser efficiency limit, it posits that the ultimate conversion efficiency can never exceed 34 percent for a single optimized semiconductor junction. Now, researchers have shown that there is a way to blow past that limit as easily as today's jet fighters zoom through the sound barrier -- which was also once seen as an ultimate limit.

Sea-ice ecosystem possibly triggered evolution of baleen whales and penguins Posted: 18 Apr 2013 11:23 AM PDT The origin of the unique plankton ecosystem of the circum-Antarctic Southern Ocean can be traced back to the emergence of the Antarctic ice sheets approximately 33.6 million years ago. This discovery shows that the development of the sea-ice ecosystem possibly triggered further adaptation and evolution of larger organisms such as baleen whales and penguins.

Learning disabilities affect up to 10 percent of children Posted: 18 Apr 2013 11:23 AM PDT Up to 10 percent of the population are affected by specific learning disabilities, such as dyslexia, dyscalculia and autism, translating to 2 or 3 pupils in every classroom, according to a new review.

Neural activity in bats measured in-flight Posted: 18 Apr 2013 11:23 AM PDT Scientists have, for the first time, measured the activity of place cells in the brains of bats as they navigated in three-dimensional space.

When it comes to survival of the fittest, stress is a good thing, squirrel study shows Posted: 18 Apr 2013 11:23 AM PDT Researchers have shown for the first time how females' use social cues to correctly prepare their offspring for life outside the nest. The results confirm that red squirrel mothers boosted stress hormone production during pregnancy, which increased the size and the chances of survival of their pups.

Rats' and bats' brains work differently on the move Posted: 18 Apr 2013 11:22 AM PDT A new study of brain rhythms in bats and rats challenges a widely-used model -- based on rodent studies -- of how animals navigate their environment. To get a clearer picture of processes in the mammal brain during spatial navigation, neuroscientists must study more species, say scientists involved in the study.

Distant blazar is a high-energy astrophysics puzzle Posted: 18 Apr 2013 09:57 AM PDT Blazars are the brightest of active galactic nuclei, and many emit very high-energy gamma rays. New observations of the blazar known as PKS 1424+240 show that it is the most distant known source of very high-energy gamma rays, but its emission spectrum now appears highly unusual in light of the new data.

Bursts of brain activity may protect against Alzheimer's disease Posted: 18 Apr 2013 09:57 AM PDT Scientists have found that bursts of electrical pulses applied to the brain can manipulate the balance of two proteins crucial to the development of Alzheimer's disease. It represents a major advance in understanding how not only genetic mutations but also physiological mechanisms affect the development of the disease.

Evolving genes lead to evolving genes: Selection in European populations of genes regulated by FOXP2 Posted: 18 Apr 2013 09:49 AM PDT Researchers have designed a method that can universally test for evolutionary adaption, or positive (Darwinian) selection, in any chosen set of genes, using re-sequencing data such as that generated by the 1000 Genomes Project. The method identifies gene sets that show evidence for positive selection in comparison with matched controls, and thus highlights genes for further functional studies.

Learned helplessness in flies and the roots of depression Posted: 18 Apr 2013 09:48 AM PDT When faced with impossible circumstances beyond their control, animals, including humans, often hunker down as they develop sleep or eating disorders, ulcers, and other physical manifestations of depression. Now, researchers show that the same kind of thing happens to flies.

Toxic protein made in unusual way may explain brain disorder Posted: 18 Apr 2013 09:43 AM PDT A bizarre twist on the usual way proteins are made may explain mysterious symptoms in the grandparents of some children with mental disabilities. The discovery may lead to better treatments for older adults with a recently discovered genetic condition called Fragile X-associated Tremor Ataxia Syndrome.

Dinosaur egg study supports evolutionary link between birds and dinosaurs: How Troodon likely hatched its young Posted: 18 Apr 2013 07:43 AM PDT A small, bird-like North American dinosaur incubated its eggs in a similar way to brooding birds -- bolstering the evolutionary link between birds and dinosaurs, researchers have found.

Robot hands gain a gentler touch: Tactile sensing technology builds on tiny barometer chips Posted: 18 Apr 2013 07:42 AM PDT What use is a hand without nerves, that can't tell what it's holding? A hand that lifts a can of soda to your lips, but inadvertently tips or crushes it in the process? Scientists have now developed a very inexpensive tactile sensor for robotic hands that is sensitive enough to turn a brute machine into a dextrous manipulator.

Increased brain activity predicts future onset of substance use Posted: 18 Apr 2013 07:01 AM PDT Do people get caught in the cycle of overeating and drug addiction because their brain reward centers are over-active, causing them to experience greater cravings for food or drugs? In a unique prospective study scientists tested this theory, called the reward surfeit model. The results indicated that elevated responsivity of reward regions in the brain increased the risk for future substance use, which has never been tested before prospectively with humans.

From mice to humans, comfort is being carried by mom Posted: 18 Apr 2013 06:59 AM PDT There is a very good reason mothers often carry their crying babies, pacing the floor, to help them calm down. New research shows that infants experience an automatic calming reaction upon being carried, whether they are mouse or human babies.

Teens' brains are more sensitive to rewarding feedback from peers Posted: 17 Apr 2013 01:50 PM PDT Teenagers are risk-takers -- they're more likely than children or adults to experiment with illicit substances, have unprotected sex, and drive recklessly. But research shows that teenagers have the knowledge and ability to make competent decisions about risk. So what explains their risky behavior? Scientists argue that this risky behavior may reflect the unique effect of peer influence on the still-developing teenage brain.

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